View full sizeLori Tobias/The OregonianStacks of crab pots sit outside a seafood processing plant on Newport's bayfront. Crab fishermen stayed in port Monday, waiting out negotiations on how much they would be paid for their catch.

NEWPORT – Calm seas and clear skies made for a fine day for setting crab pots, but 24 hours into the "pre-soak," a period of time that allows crews to set gear days ahead of the season opening, nary a crab boat on the Oregon coast was moving.

Despite days of negotiations, fishermen and processors can't agree on how much Oregon's official state crustacean is worth, and that could lead to the marine version of a strike.

"Yesterday morning was the start of the pre soak and it doesn't appear very much gear, if any, went in the ocean," said Nick Furman, executive director of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission. "Everyone is honoring the price negotiation process right now and waiting to set gear until there is some resolution."

The two sides have scheduled another round of negotiations – overseen by the Oregon Department of Agriculture – for Tuesday morning – one day before the season opens. The fleet is optimistic, but time is running out, Furman said.

"After Wednesday, it would effectively be a tie-up," Furman said. "Once the season is open and negotiations dissolved, it's basically every man, every boat for themselves."

In the past seven years since negotiations began, there have been two seasons – 2005-06 and 2006-07 – that processors and the fleet failed to reach an agreement. Both years, the fleet stayed in port well past opening day,

Al Pazar , Coos Bay skipper of the 52-foot Delma Ann, expects the same could happen this year.

"They offered $1.35 and that wasn't enough," Pazar said. "We said we would take $1.75. That's an $8 to $12 million difference to the fleet. Do the math; it's significant."

Last year's opening price was $1.75 per pound, up from the $1.60 negotiated price in the 2008-09 season and down from $2 – the high mark since negotiations started – in 2007-08.

Setting a price before the boats go out is important because it creates a level of certainty, said Furman.

"Everyone knows the opening piece and we've gotten that behind us," he said.

But even more important than keeping the pricing process sane, successful negotiations open the way for the season to begin with the pre-soak, a 64-hour window of time that allows the boats to set gear without the pressure of immediately harvesting it. The pre-soak is designed to keep the crabbing safe and fair.

View full sizeLori Tobias/The OregonianThese fishing boats, seen last week at the Port of Newport, are among those that could go out to sea if an agreement is reached on the price of crab.

"When we miss the pre-soak, boats are frantically trying to get gear out and if the weather is bad, they will take chances they wouldn't normally take," said Furman. "It creates an uneven playing field and disadvantages."

Those disadvantages come largely to the smaller boats. Even in bad weather, the big boats can often safely make it out to sea. Not so the smaller boats.

"If the weather is marginal, the smaller boats that don't want to risk life and limb have to stay at the docks," said Pazar. "The big boats can just go. It's not uncommon in situations like this to have 15 to 20 large boats at sea and we sit and watch. They come in with 100,000 pounds and we have zero."

There is still the possibility that negotiations Tuesday will be successful, but Pazar is doubtful.

"We let the good weather go and that demonstrates to buyers that we are serious. Safety is paramount in a lot of people's minds and we've given up a lot of that. When we do settle on a price, it will be the Olympic dash to set pots."